Black & White

With all the controversy around the Rhino poaching situation in South Africa, I was very surprised at the amount of Rhino sightings on my first ever four day trip to Kruger National Park.

While planning the trip I did not even expect to see Rhino. I had no idea how bad the situation was and to what extent it had affected the Rhino population in the park.

My first Rhino sighting occurred at the least expected moment and it was a rare sighting at that. I was rushing back to camp on my first day in the park. I had already seen amazing sightings and was already overwhelmed. I even saw two lionesses and all I wanted to do was go check into camp. I saw a car parked on the side of the road and decided to ask what they were viewing. The man in the car grinned and whispered, “A Black Rhino”.

I didn’t get the best view, but managed to see the Rhino and its horn in between thick bushes. Black Rhinos are fairly shy and don’t like to emerge from the bushes. I could not believe that this was how my trip was starting. What a special and memorable way to end off the first day.

Over the next few days I managed to see numerous more White Rhino sightings. I saw a mother and calf walking around a waterhole during a guided night drive. The guide told us that a White Rhino mother will lead with the calf behind her and a Black Rhino mother will have the calf in front of her at all times.

I saw these two White Rhinos while heading towards a waterhole. It was quite an ironic story seeing these rhinos in this area. The bush was quite thick and all I could see was a large mass moving through the bush. I first assumed it might be elephants, but then they eventually revealed themselves. They were on a slow march and made their way across the road.

The last day in the park was surprisingly hot as it was the first sunny day after some rain. I drove past these two white Rhino’s simply taking it easy in a shallow mud bath.

Bending roads in the Kruger are something I look forward to as you never know what’s going to happen around the next bend. You’ll be very lucky to have an incredible sighting all to your own, but seeing a traffic jam tells you that something great is taking place. This is what happened with this baby Rhino. Once I made it through the pile of cars, I saw a baby White Rhino rolling around and frolicking in the middle of the road. It was the cutest thing I had seen on the whole trip. It must have been enjoying the heat on the tar road. It simply was not concerned with any traffic rules and was having a ball of a time. It eventually got up and walked back to its mother to have a quick bite to eat.

I had some other minor rhino sightings where the rhino were simply too far away to see anything spectacular. However it is an incredible experience to see them in their natural habitat. I was relieved to see that all the Rhinos still had their horns intact.

P.S. For the protection of Rhinos, I’ve omitted where I’ve seen the Rhinos and some key details in my story.